The first in a year-long Arab film series. Like the novel ostensibly set in 1990 at about the time of the first Gulf War, the film is a scathing portrayal of modern Egyptian society since the coup d'état of 1952. The setting is downtown Cairo, with the titular apartment building (which actually exists) serving as both a metaphor for contemporary Egypt and a unifying location in which most of the primary characters either live or work and in which much of the action takes place.

The struggle between Russia and Great Britain over Central Asia in the nineteenth century was the original "great game." But in the past quarter century, a new "great game" has emerged, pitting America against a newly aggressive Russia and a resource-hungry China, all struggling for influence over one of the volatile areas in the world. In Great Games, Local Rules, Alexander Cooley, one of America's most respected Central Asia experts, explores the dynamics of the new competition over the region since 9/11.

On January 15th, 1924, a maidservant in Beijing was murdered at the home of her employer, a bank accountant named Shen Ruihong and his wife. The case became a protracted legal battle as police, prosecutors, and the Shens’ defense lawyers argued different theories of Mrs. Shen’s involvement in the murder on the basis of divergent interpretations of fingerprints and blood stains found at the crime scene.

When China was recovering from the mid-nineteenth century rebellions, Sichuan assumed a special position in the expanding fiscal system of the Qing government. The province developed from a poor frontier region into a major contributor to both central government revenue and interprovincial assistance after the 1860s. Different from other regions, however, a large part of this increase in provincial revenue came not from new commercial taxes but from land tax surcharges. But how was the provincial government able to raise these surcharges?

Dan Selcer will lead an informal seminar on chapters two & three of Ann Blair's Too Much to Know: "Information Management in Comparative Perspective," as a lead-up to the author's visit in October.

Email Jennifer Waldron for directions.

*Part of the The A. W. Mellon Distinguished Lectures in the History of Science

"Newton’s Shadow: Francesco Algarotti and the Passion for Science in the Eighteenth Century"

Paula Findlen is the Ubaldo Pierotti Professor of Italian History at Stanford University.

*Part of the The A. W. Mellon Distinguished Lectures in the History of Science

"Newton’s Shadow: Francesco Algarotti and the Passion for Science in the Eighteenth Century"

Paula Findlen is the Ubaldo Pierotti Professor of Italian History at Stanford University.

*Part of the The A. W. Mellon Distinguished Lectures in the History of Science

"Newton’s Shadow: Francesco Algarotti and the Passion for Science in the Eighteenth Century"

Paula Findlen is the Ubaldo Pierotti Professor of Italian History at Stanford University.

*Lunch provided*
RSVP to losagio@pitt.edu by Monday, September 17, 2012

Graduate students and faculty are invited to participate in this workshop, which will provide training in the theory and application of the multiliteracies approach to teaching advanced-level foreign language courses. Participants will have the chance to develop their own teaching materials.